TRS keeps Congress on tenterhooks

With Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K Chandrashekar Rao keeping everybody guessing about his future moves, a recent tweet by his son KT Rama Rao appears to have created ripples in the Congress camp.

“All the best for tomorrow's Narendra Modi's meet. Looking forward to hear his take on Telangana and other national issues,” Rao said on social networking site Twitter in his message to Andhra Pradesh BJP president Kishan Reddy ahead of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi's much-hyped rally in Hyderabad on Sunday.

Many Congress leaders interpreted the remark as an attempt by the TRS to keep their party on tenterhooks and at the same also explore the possibility of joining hands with the BJP in future.

The Congress and TRS have been in a love-hate relationship over the past nine years and just when it appeared that the ties would be cemented following the Telangana announcement, poaching and counter-poaching by the two sides has led to a fresh strain.

The TRS had recently inducted senior Congress leaders K Keshav Rao, Manda Jagannadham and Gaddam Vivekanand into the party fold.

Now the Congress has decided to pay back Rao in the same coin. Reports suggested that many TRS leaders, including expelled MP Vijayashanti, are knocking on the Congress party’s doors. “The modalities are being worked out,” a senior Congress functionary said.

The Congress is also upset with Rao for not keeping up his promise. Rao had vowed to merge the TRS with the Congress once the ruling party conceded the demand for carving out a separate state of Telangana from Andhra Pradesh.

In a volte-face, the TRS chief has now stated that the merger decision would be considered once parliament passes the Telangana bill.